The girls state lacrosse tournament opens with the quarterfinal round as a bunch of familiar names — and one fresh face — descend on Chaska High School on Tuesday.
The semifinals will be held on Thursday in Eden Prairie, which is also where the final will take place on Saturday.
Here are the three east metro teams still with a shot at a state tournament title:
Park
The Wolfpack are making their state tournament debut and showing up in style as they crash a party featuring a plethora of other perennial powers. The No. 2 seed is unbeaten heading into its 1 p.m. semifinal against Elk River/Zimmerman.
How’s this for defense? Park has held its opponent to three goals or fewer in 11 games this spring.
Madi Brinkman and Josie Leonard are each 60-plus point players, while Leonard is also a star in the draw control.
One interesting fact about the Wolfpack? They have two high-end netminders in Lauryn Ehrenstrom and Aubree Laska who split time each game between the pipes, and do so in an elite fashion.
Stillwater
The lacrosse titan that’s still in search of its first title takes another big swing at it this week, as the Ponies (13-2) are seeded third and have a first-round date with Maple Grove at 11 a.m.
Grace Young, Madylyn Richert and Rayna Malmberg all have 55-plus points for Stillwater, but the Ponies remain a defensive juggernaut.
They have surrendered more than seven goals in just one game this spring – a season-opening loss to top-seeded Prior Lake. Goalie Jacky Richert is stopping 61% of shots faced this season.
Lakeville South
The champs are back. And while the reigning title holders aren’t the favorites this time around – the Cougars (13-3) are the No. 5 seed and will face fourth-seeded Orono at 3 p.m. – they do still feature plenty of firepower up top.
Ella Mills scored 73 goals this season, tied for third most in the state. Charlotte Fannin leads Minnesota with 122 points (58 goals and 64 assists).
Mills is also a star in draw control.
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